The Dangers of Curiosity

The Column of Dust

by Evelyn UNDERHILL (1875 - 1941)

Evelyn Underhill, the preeminent scholar of mysticism, wrote 3 novels in her youth, of which this is #3. Constance Tyrrel, a poor but literate woman works in a bookshop, suffers ennui, wonders if there is more to life than what she sees, invokes a ritual that she finds in a dusty old volume. Meanwhile, a disembodied spirit is consumed by a desire to know about the nature and content of the material world. It is drawn by Constance's call, where it appears as a column of dust. The two embark on adventures edifying to both and, incidentally to the reader. - Summary by Josh Mitteldorf

Listen next episodes of The Column of Dust:
A Domestic Interior , A Lecture and a Demonstration , Constance and the Real , Constance, Andrew and the Truth , Death and the Watcher , Furnished Lodgings , How Constance Kept Christmas , How Something Came from Somewhere , How They Went Home , How those who lose themselves often find something more valuable , Martin Upon Reality , New Facts for Constance and Andrew , Sight-seeing , The Day's Work , The Helpers of the Holy Souls , The Mistresss of Novices , The Road to Penrith and Other Places , The Street and the Drawing Room , Three Sorts of Ignorance , Two Lovers , Two Sorts of Solitude